Why Building a People Strategy the Mastercard Way Works

Having a people strategy that prioritises employee experience is becoming more important than ever. 

According to research from Gallup, businesses whose employees were more engaged saw higher levels of profitability, product quality and customer loyalty – directly impacting the success of a business. 

To achieve higher levels of employee engagement, Mastercard has prioritised its people through the company’s core HR strategy, “The Mastercard Way”.

This is a cultural framework that focuses on three core values to drive high performance alongside a supportive company culture. 

These values are “Create Value”, “Grow Together” and “Move Fast” – encouraging staff to innovate for business growth, foster inclusion and collaboration within teams and prioritise agility. 

Designed to support the experience of the company’s 35,000+ employees, this strategy emphasises employee belonging and development as key to driving business success, which it grows through its culture of employee belonging and investments in learning and upskilling. 

In an annual letter, Michael Miebach, CEO of Mastercard, described this strategy as the company’s “guiding star”, saying: “Our culture and the way we work together combine both high performance and high empathy. That’s how we achieve the things we do.”

Fostering a culture of employee belonging

According to Mastercard, leaders in the company are encouraged to champion inclusivity and belonging to ensure the company’s values are felt across the business – specifically its values of collaboration, candor and care.

This begins with its hiring process, with the company focusing on a structured, skills-based approach to sourcing talent. Prospective employees are assessed on their alignment with the company’s core values and their ability to showcase relevant job skills and work style. 

The company also focuses on hiring from diverse backgrounds to ensure it can bring in varied perspectives and foster growth in new ways. 

This is of particular importance for the company as it looks to scale growth and hire for more specialised roles where talent is scarce – with Mastercard saying on its website that it’s looking for talent with the capability to innovate and adapt. 

Mastercard says: “Future-ready employees are learning-agile: they lead with curiosity, stay open to change, and experiment with new ways to create value”. 

Growing together and moving fast

As Mastercard adapts its operations to remain competitive in the AI era, the company is looking to develop its workforce’s skills and capabilities. 

Susan Muigai, Chief People Officer of Mastercard, discussed the company’s approach to learning and development in a LinkedIn post, saying: “The data is clear: companies with high “employee-centricity” are far more likely to reach AI maturity. Yet many leaders overestimate how confident or prepared their teams feel about these changes.

"At Mastercard, we’re focused on bridging that gap – creating open dialogue about how AI impacts work, while investing in learning and reskilling for our people.”

It achieves this through its “Unlocked” platform, which uses AI to help employees create personalised career roadmaps by identifying skills gaps and recommending recommended learning, short term projects and mentorship opportunities – allowing employees to develop skills suited to the future of the company. 

According to Mastercard, more than 90% of the company’s employees are registered with Unlocked, and one third of Mastercard employees who participated in a project or mentorship through the platform made an internal career move within a year.